"Right. Well, we should set up a time to meet. Discuss our company choice, strategy approach?—"
"How did you do it?" I cut him off.
"Do what?"
"Get us paired together. Did your mother make another donation? Pull strings?"
"Ivy." He looks almost hurt. Almost. "I didn't arrange this. Professor Hendricks assigns partners based on academic records. It's random."
"Nothing involving you is random."
"You're being paranoid."
"I'm being realistic." I start walking toward my next class. He follows. "Stay away from me, Ethan. Outside of required class interactions, pretend I don't exist."
"Kind of hard when we're project partners for an entire semester."
"Then I'll do all the work myself and put your name on it. You're good at taking credit for things you didn't earn."
I don't wait for his response. Just push through the crowd of students, heading for the building exit.
But his voice follows me "Still bitter, I see. Three years and you still can't let it go."
I spin around. March back until we're toe to toe.
"You want me to let it go? Fine. I've let it go. You're nothing to me. Not even a memory. Just an inconvenience I have to deal with for sixteen weeks."
"An inconvenience." He leans closer. "Is that why you're shaking right now? Because I'm so inconsequential?"
I am shaking. Damn it.
"That's anger, not?—"
"It's something and we both know it." His voice drops. "You can pretend you don't care. Play the ice queen who's moved on. But I know you, Ivy. Better than anyone and you're not over it."
"You don't know me anymore."
"Don't I? You still tap your pen three times before taking notes. Still arrive exactly fifteen minutes early to everything. Still wear that jade bracelet your grandmother gave you even though the clasp is broken." His eyes flick to my wrist where the bracelet sits, held together with wire. "Some things don't change."
The observation is too intimate. Too accurate. Too much evidence that he's been paying attention.
"Stay out of my life."
"We have the same classes. The same major. We're partners on a semester-long project." He smiles that cruel smile again. "Your life is my life for the next four months. Better get used to it."
He walks away before I can respond, leaving me standing in the hallway with a crowd of students flowing around me.
My phone buzzes. The group chat.
Lennox:How's your day going?
Me:Ethan is my partner for Business Strategy. Semester-long project.
Isla:WHAT?
Lennox:That has to violate some kind of university policy
Me:He arranged it somehow. I know he did.